Puppet



V. LEEPER April 25,` 1939.

PUPPET V Filed March 26, 1958 INVENTOR. VER/9 L E EER ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 25, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Claims.

This invention relates generally to improvements in toys and has particular reference to a puppet.

Heretofore, it has been generally known to con- 5 struct puppets in a manner which will enable the figures to be mounted upon the hand of an operator with two or more fingers and the thumb positioned in various portions of the figure, such as the arms, legs, and head thereof, so that the puppet may be manipulated to assume different poses. With such constructions, it is possible to mount only one puppet on a hand because of the necessity of using several ngers to obtain the desired manipulations.

A feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a construction which makes it possible to support more than one puppet on a hand by mounting them separately on different lingers each of which may be separately moved to produce certain postures, and wherein the thumb of the hand may be alternately employed to secure movements of certain of the limbs of the different puppets.

Another feature is to make the body of the puppet of a foundation member in the form of a flexible linger covering to which the head and limbs are directly attached, and to provide flexible operating elements for connection to certain of said limbs and to the thumb of the hand so that movements of said thumb may be transmitted to said limbs to cause them to simulate natural movements thereof.

A further feature is to provide an improved puppet of simple, practical and economical construction wherein the arrangement of the elements constituting the same and the manner of mounting the figure upon the hand is such that operators can quickly become adept in the art of manipulating the puppet.

The inventive idea involved is capable of receiving a variety of mechanical expressions one of which, for purposes of illustration, is shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a puppet constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a similar view of the body of the puppet, partly broken away and shown in section.

Figure 3 is a side elevation illustrating the manner of positioning a puppet upon one of the fingers of a hand and manipulating the arms thereof by the thumb, and,

Figure 4 is a vertical longitudinal section through the body of the puppet.

In its preferred form, the puppet comprises a (Cl. llf3-154) body consisting of a foundation member in the form of a exible linger covering 5 which may be made of a fabric, leather, or any other desirable material. At the lower open end of the covering 5 the same may be reinforced as indil cated at E to prevent undue stretching of the material at this point after continued use. The head 'I of the doll may be molded or cast of any desired material and in so forming the head one end of a supporting rod 8 is embedded in the neck so as to be permanently attached thereto and when applying the head to the upper end of the covering 5 the depending portion of said rod, which is curved to conform substantially to the contour of the covering, is inserted through an opening in the closed end of the covering and thereafter stitched to the interior surface thereof, as indicated at 9, so that the head will be xedly secured to the covering.

Each leg of the body, generally indicated by Y the numeral Il), preferably comprises a tubular flexible section Il of some suitable fabric which forms the inner or upper section of the leg, and at the upper end of said section the material is flattened and stitched, as indicated yat I2, to the front portion of the covering 5 adjacent its lower end so that the leg will depend therefrom. Said leg is completed by a lower solid section I3 molded of some suitable material and reinforced by a small wire rod I4 extending therethrough. This molded section is inserted into the depending tubular portion of the upper section I I which is of such length as to form a covering for said lower section, and .any a-dhesive may be employed to permanently attach said sections together. When the sections are thus assembled, the lower solid section I3 imparts rigidity to the lower portion of the leg which will ex adjacent the upper extremity of said solid section so that the leg may bend when manipulating the puppet.

Each arm of the body, generally indicated by the numeral l5, is constructed similarly to the legs It! and comprises a sleeve or tube of fabric I6 the upper end of which is stitched at I1 to the closed end of the covering 5, while the lower portion of said sleeve receives and is adhesively secured to the lower plastic section I8 of the arm which is reinforced by the wire rod I9. Said lower section imparts rigidity to the outer end of the arm but permits the same to flex at the upper extremity of said section so that the arm may bend in simulation of a natural movement.

With the body of the puppet thus completed, the same may be covered with various types and designs of dress or costume, generally indicated at 2U, to represent different characters. In draping the body with a garment it is desirable, as illustrated at 2| in Figure 3, to provide an opening in the rear of the lower portion of the garment so as to facilitate the insertion of a finger into the covering 5 and permit the garment to be properly draped when the puppet is being manipulated.

Means are provided in connection with the present invention for raising and lowering the arms I5l when the puppet is mounted upon a finger. Said means preferably comprises a pair of flexible operating elements 22, one for each arm, in the form of cords or strings. One end of each element 22 is connected to the associated arm by being tied to the wrist portion thereof as indicated at 23, and said element is then extended upwardly and rearwardly over a shoulder of the puppet and passed through a loop 24 formed on the garment adjacent the neck portion and acting to guide the operating element. From the shoulders, the two elements 22 are extended rearwardly and are joined at their other extremities to a ring 25 which hangs loosely at the back of the puppet when the latter is not in use, as indicated in Figure 1, the weight of the outer sections I8 of the arms causing the latter to be extended downwardly in the normal position thereof. After the puppet has been mounted upon a finger, as illustrated in Figure 3, and it is desired to manipulate the arms l5 in a raising and lowering movement, the thumb may be inserted into `the ring 25V and by moving the thumb rearwardly and forwardly with respect to the puppet the arms may be| raised in unison by the pull exerted upon the elements 22 and permitted to lower by the weight of said arms. Also, by moving the thumb rearwardly and laterally from one side to the other with respect to the puppet body, one or the other arms may be raised to a-greater extent as, for instance, if the thumb is shifted rearwardly and to the right of the body a greater pull will be exerted upon the element 22 connected to the left hand arm than that applied to the right hand arm with the result that the left arm will be raised higher than the right arm. As previously suggested the construction of the puppet is such that more than one figure can be mountedrupon different fingers of the hand and with the rings 25 of the puppets positioned as in Figure 1, the operator may selectively and alternately engage the thumb with the different rings and thus manipulate the arms of the selected puppet.

What is claimed is:

l. In a puppet, a body including a flexible foundation member in the form of a covering adapted to t the end of an upwardly directed single finger, arms attached to said foundation member,

and fiexible operating elements each connected to one of said arms and joined together at the rear of said body and operable by the thumb of the supporting hand.

2. In a puppet, a body including a flexible foundation member in the form of a covering closed at its upper end and constituting the shoulder portions of said body, said covering being adapted to i'it the end of a single upraised finger, arms attached to said foundation member, flexible operating elements operable by the thumb of the supporting hand and each having one end connected to one of said arms and being joined at their other ends, and means at the shoulder portions of said body for guiding said operating elements upwardly along said arms and over and around said shoulder portions to the rear of said body.

3. In a puppet, a body comprising a flexible covering fitting over the end of a single finger, legs and arms connected to said finger covering, said arms being operable by another finger of the supporting hand, and a head member also connected to said covering at its upper end.

4. In a puppet, a body comprising a covering adapted for fitting over the end of a single uprwardly directed finger, limbs attached to said covering andy operable by another finger of the supporting hand, said limbs each including a flexible section consisting solely of a tubular piece of fabric and constituting the inner portion of the limb, and a rigid section connected to said flexible section and forming the outer portion of the limb, and flexible operating elements each connected to the rigid section of one of said limbs and engageable by the secondnamed finger of the supporting hand for operating said limbs.

5. In a puppet, a body comprising a flexible covering having a closed end and an open end and adapted to fit over the end of a single finger, bendable limbs formed of tubular pieces of fabric each attached at one end to the closed end of said covering, similar limbs secured to and depending from the open end of said covering, a rigid member enclosed within each limb and terminating at a point intermediate the ends thereof, flexible operating elements connected to the free extremities of the first-named limbs and extending upwardly therefrom to points contiguous to the closed end of said covering and from thence downwardly to the rear of said body, means at said closed end of said body for guiding said operating elements, and means connecting said operating elements at the rear of said body and engageable by the thumb of the supporting hand for operation of said first-named limbs by said thumb.

VERA LEEPER. 

